Beverley, United Kingdom

Before the Battle of Brunanburh, possibly located further north than Beverley, the King of England at the time Athelstan visited Inderawuda, he prayed all night and saw a vision saying he would be victorious: in return he helped the town to grow greatly. The name of the town was changed to Bevreli or Beverlac, meaning beaver-clearing or beaver-lake, in the 10th century; a reference to the colonies of beavers in the River Hull at the time. The last three Anglo-Saxon archbishops of York helped Beverley to develop, via the rise in prominence of Beverley Minster and the town in general; along with York itself, Ripon and Southwell, Beverley became one of the most important Christian centres of Northern England. Ealdred was declared by king Edward the Confessor as "sole Lord of the manor of Beverley". Beverley developed as a trade centre, producing textiles, leather and objects made out of antler.

Beverley Minster was constructed in 1220 and there were three phases to its construction. 1220–1260, 1320–1348 Stopped during the Black death and again in 1420–1440 but Beverley Minster is not complete. The chapter house was demolished in 1660 and only the doors remain in the church.

After the Norman Conquest, many pilgrims flocked to Beverley upon hearing reports of miracles wrought by the town's founder, John. However, much of the North of England rejected Norman rule, and sought to reinstate Anglo-Saxon rule. Towns in Yorkshire were obliterated by the Normans in response, with the Harrying of the North; but Beverley itself was spared, upon the Normans hearing about the town's saintly history. In 1086, Beverley was recorded in the Domesday Book as comprising around 19 households and lying within the Hundred of Sneculfcros. In the 12th century, Beverley developed from a settlement of several thousand, to an extensive town, stretching from around the North Bar area to the Beck in an elongated pattern, it was granted borough status in 1122 by Thurstan. Industry grew further, Beverley especially traded wool with the cloth making towns of the Low Countries.

The town suffered a large fire in 1188 which destroyed numerous houses, and damaged Beverley Minster. Lady Sybil de Valines gave the Manor of the Holy Trinity on the east side of Beverley to the Knights Hospitallers in 1201, where they established a preceptory; also to be found in Beverley during the 13th century were Dominican friars who were given some land by Henry III upon which they erected buildings. Franciscans were present. A dispute arose between local farmers and the archbishop during the 13th century, about land rights; after the locals demanded a royal inquiry, the archbishop granted the townspeople pasture and pannage in the Westwood and other places.

During the 14th century, England experienced periods of famine caused by poor weather conditions which destroyed crops. There were other nationwide issues to contend with at the time, such as the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War and the Great Rising. However, Beverley continued to grow: and by 1377, had become the 10th largest town in England.

The earliest surviving secular drama in English, The Interlude of the Student and the Girl (c. 1300), may have originated from Beverley.

Beverley was reliant on pilgrimage, but changes brought about by the Reformation impacted upon this tradition, resulting in a decline in its status. Local Beverley man Cardinal John Fisher was martyred along with Thomas More for refusing to accept the Tudor King Henry VIII as Head of the Church of England. In October 1536, there was a popular rising in Beverley where 500 men in the town gathered at the Westwood under the leadership of a local lawyer named William Stapleton, later becoming part of the larger Pilgrimage of Grace in York and, in turn, part of the 30,000 rebels opposing Henry's new religious laws. Henry followed through with the break from Rome and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolving the Dominican Friary in Beverley and taking their land for himself, the Knights Templars in Beverley suffered the same fate in 1540.

As a result of the tensions across the North of England, governance duties were handed over to the Council of the North so the Tudors could control the area at arm's length. Beverley was visited by John Leland, the man known as the "father of English local history", he wrote of the town in some detail, estimating the population of the time at around 5,000. Beverley Minster was threatened with demolition by its new owners who wanted to profit from selling its stone and lead, however the local people led by wealthy merchant Richard Gray saved it from this fate. During the time of Elizabeth I, Beverley was endowed with its own mayor; Edward Ellerker was the first to take this position. The gap between Beverley's rich and poor became more pronounced during the Tudor era, due to large unemployment. The substantial drop in pilgrimage to Beverley in honour of its founder John of Beverley affected the jobs of the working class as it was Beverley's main industry.